Hill claim statement win
Boyne Hill CC: Mohamed's men shock TVL League Division 1 with crushing 177-run victory over Green
A magnificent century from Tharushan Iddamalgoda helped Boyne Hill claim the statement 177-run victory over Stoke Green on Saturday that captain Ziya Mohamed had urged them to deliver.
Hill were low on morale heading into the clash with unbeaten Green and the two sides’ early season form couldn't have been more different, with Hill having lost all four of their matches.
There had been signs of improvement in their narrow three-run defeat to Beaconsfield the previous week, but nothing to suggest they'd swat aside Gagan Singh's men so ruthlessly.
Hill were only off the bottom of the Thames Valley Division 1 table thanks to Burnham's disastrous start, but in a fixture they've often done well in, they set about their visitors from the start.
Having been put into bat, they lost a couple of early wickets, with Imran Butt (4) and Usman Ilyas (0) quickly back in the clubhouse, but heads didn't drop this time and Nabeel Janed (26), Hamid Riaz (54) and Iddamalgoda (104) staged an impressive recovery. Further runs followed from the bat of Mohamed (31no) as the hosts set Green a target of 282-7 from their 50 overs.
Green have strengthened in all departments and would have been confident of chasing their target at the turnaround, but Samad Fallah (2-16), Mohamed (4-11) and Riaz (3-11) had other ideas. No batsman was allowed to settle at the crease and 24, achieved by Saqlain Basharat and Kashif Abassi, was the best they could muster
as their innings collapsed to 105 all out in just 28 overs.
“We always knew we had the talent, but just needed a bit of luck,” said Mohamed. “It was a good team performance, one in which everyone contributed. We looked a little shaky at 9-2, but one of our Sri Lankan players,
Tharushan, scored a brilliant century and he was well supported by Hamid Riaz. I then went in at the end and scored a quick 30 and we finished on 282. We then bowled well. I took four wickets, but it was just a great team performance. For some reason I usually do well against Stoke Green, I have at least for the past few years, but I haven’t been getting a lot of runs lately so personally it was a good day, but I was happy for the team.”
He added: “The wicket was turning a little so there was a lot for the bowlers, but I thought we batted well.
“Tharushan had an unbelievable innings. He started slowly but then was smashing them at the end, his strike rate was more than 100.”
Mohamed admits morale was low after four straight defeats, however, he’s hopeful the tide has now turned and is targeting another victory at local rivals Cookham Dean on Saturday.
“Our morale was down for the first four games because we lost all of them,” he added. “We needed this win, and everyone is happy because we felt comfortable and there are a few new guys in the team as well. We played like a team on Saturday which was lacking in the first four games.
“We’re now looking forward to Cookham Dean on Saturday. I’d say we’ve won 60/70 per cent of our recent matches with them but the games have been very equal. They’re another good side and we know this is a tough league. We must go all out for the victory and, if we can get a couple of good wins in the coming weeks, it should put us right back up there.”
Hill’s Julian Cup match with Wargrave was called off due to the weather last week. They were due to play Henley in their next group match on Tuesday evening.